


Confined Spaces

by cinnalando



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Its really not too sad just realistic, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-08 21:01:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11654649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnalando/pseuds/cinnalando
Summary: Yamato wakes up from a rattling nightmare.Surrounded by Gai and Kakashi, though, he reflects on who he is, who he loves, and who loves him.





	Confined Spaces

_Living in a tube since the beginning, watching as the fellow children around him died. He was trapped._

_Just as he was freed from the white monster surrounding him, the Third Hokage holding his shoulders tightly with fear in his dead eyes, the darkness surrounded him yet again in imprisonment._

_After the war, Yamato lost himself. Or perhaps, he was already gone from the second Kabuto captured him._

_Yamato could not face those around him out of guilt, knowing he was a prime factor in so many families' loved ones' deaths and injuries.  If he hadn't been so weak, if he hadn't been used and tortured, the war might have ended much earlier and with less casualties._

_If only._

_After Madara's wrath, Kakashi doubted his worth, Gai was bound to a wheelchair, and Yamato thought he would never find peace again. The war hadn't truly ended- at least, not in their hearts._

_But together, in a world of shinobi with bonds tighter than any other generation before them, they would find a way to get past it._

 

 

 

  _Yamato never really was a fan of confined spaces._

 

 

 

"Are you okay?" Kakashi's voice, soft but deep behind his ear, breaks the silence of the night, as well as Yamato's burdening pondering.

Gai shifts in front of him, pulling himself closer to both the Hokage and the Wood Element user. The mighty beast is still bulky and thick despite his permanent injuries, not letting the confines of his wheelchair stop him from training. His skin, once slightly tanned and covered in tiny scars, was now lined with discoloration, a side effect of opening the Eighth Gate of Death and living to tell the tale. A constant warmth radiates from his heart where Naruto had given him life, a beating  yellow heartbeat beneath his shirt. His arms are the perfect pressure against Yamato's waist, he smells of the earth and musk, and his gaze is warm and affectionate, as if those two black irises held all the love in the world. Konoha's blue beast is the soil to Yamato's roots, and he loves pressing his face into the crook below his strong jaw and smelling his natural earthy musk.

Behind Yamato, Kakashi's lips are pressed to his neck, his face exposed and trusting, and his arms are also wrapped around the man in the middle, his legs bent to mold around Yamato's own. Kakashi, now blind in his left eye, and bearing deep scars running across his chest along with varying scars of different sizes all across his body. Just like his hair, he shines like the sun, pale and present. He is Yamato's first friend, now lover. There is no man Yamato respects more than his Senpai.

"Tenzo," Kakashi whispers his name to get his attention, and he can feel his soft, thin lips moving against his skin. Gai rests his forehead against Yamato's, their lips just grazing each other.

He closes his eyes. Yamato is broad shouldered, plain-looking, and wearing constant eye bags. He is the nature between Kakashi and Gai, the flowers and trees blossoming due to their nourishment. Yamato does not think much of himself; he is a traitor to all shinobi and was created for the sole purpose of being a weapon, which he ultimately became - so no, he is not quite fond of himself. It's hard to remain standing when guilt is present everywhere he goes, in the eyes of civilians and shinobi alike, all having lost someone to his powers, whether voluntary or not, and the graves upon graves he often passes in the outskirts of the village. Every name screams to him, accusations and cries of pain and betrayal. 

However, there are names that do _not_ shout at him insisting he die and end it all (though he finds that too often his own name begs for this outcome as well). Gai and Kakashi say they love Yamato. They love Tenzo.

Rock Lee loves Yamato as well, maybe not as much as he loves Gai, but he loves him all the same. The kid is precious to Yamato, and he relates to him deeply. Naruto, as well. Orphans were common in the shinobi world, but it never got easier to be one. Unlike Gai and Kakashi, Yamato could relate to the two teens, not having known his parents in the slightest (not even his own name, for the matter). Thankfully, Naruto and Lee had the blessing of finding and meeting their parents, Naruto more literally than Lee (who found a fatherly figure in Gai). Yamato was happy for them, joyous beyond words- because no child deserves to never meet their parents.

Yamato's secretly always wanted a son of his own, and Lee fits the criteria nicely, but maybe one day the three of them would have an actual child together, somehow. The thought gives him hope for the future.

Yamato is brought back to the present when his eyes refocus to find Gai staring at him with sympathetic patience.

"I'm fine," he responds finally, kissing Gai softly and squeezing Kakashi's hand. His voice is strained, like a branch about to snap when under too much pressure.

Yamato _is_  a branch, he supposes, holding too much weight on his shoulders, ready to break and fall to the ground at any moment. Though, his friends are there to hold him up, he reminds himself. 

 _Kakashi and Gai are here_ , he drills into his brain for the umpteenth time. _And they love you._

"You were muttering in your sleep," Gai whispers, his eyelids drooping as he fights to stay awake. He says so with a hint of worry.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles, catching Gai's lips in another chaste kiss. Kissing Gai usually meant giving your all and receiving complete enthusiasm in return. So, sleepy and lazy kisses were always a nice change. Gai responds with a hum and a wide smile, a huff coming from his nose in what must be amusement.

"No need to be sorry, love," Gai says.

Kakashi sighs against Yamato's neck, interlacing their fingers where their left hands met. "You were dreaming." It's a statement that holds a question, as well as an answer.

It was far from unusual for shinobi to have nightmares, especially for those who've gone through two wars and lost many loved ones at such vulnerable ages. While Gai might not have the constant nightmares like Yamato, Kakashi has had plenty a fill since his younger days. 

They balanced each other out that way. 

Yamato feels his right arm beginning to buzz unpleasantly beneath Gai's heavy torso so he shifts and turns to his other side, facing Kakashi and pressing his back into Gai's chest, the back of his thighs pressed against thicker ones behind him. Kakashi offers a small yet reassuring smile, reaching up a hand to brush loose strands of hair from Yamato's cheek before getting in his fair share of kisses.

Unlike Gai, Kakashi's kisses are cool and nippy, as laid back as his personality. Yet there's always a small spark to them, and Yamato suspects the constant use of Chidori is a factor in that.

Gai's arms wrap around his stomach and he's pulled into the other man's frame even further, as if the man was attempting to completely engulf him. He is bigger than both Kakashi and Yamato, height and width; the perfect cuddling beast.

Months ago, this tight embrace would have flicked the switch in Yamato's brain, resulting in a state of frenzy and panic, short gulps of air and flashes of the war he was barely present for. But now the walls around him were neither cold, lifeless, nor confining. They were warm, youthful, and comforting. 

He almost laughs at the memory of the first night the three shared in his bed. Yamato had woken up to pitch black, surrounded by the two men, his limbs stuck in place. It was like being thrown directly back into the ruins, and Yamato had acted without thought, summoning sharp branches from his body with the intent to kill or destroy everything around him. Thankfully, Kakashi and Gai were skilled enough ninja to react instantly, despite having been asleep moments prior.

Needless to say, it had been a rough night for all three of them. Also needless to say, that wasn't the only night one of them had woken up sweaty and breathing heavily, ready to cry or attack (or both, in man cases).

Kakashi often dreamed of his days as an ANBU officer, mercilessly killing enemies for the mission. Rin and Obito were less occurring subjects of nightmares now that Kakashi had finally made peace with the former Uchiha, but with war came PTSD, so he wasn't truly free from night terrors. 

Gai, too, dreamed of the war, waking up in tears screaming out the name of his deceased student, sometimes even Lee and TenTen if the dream bent reality too harshly. 

Yamato blinks, a small smile gracing his lips as he is reminded how deeply he loves these two men and how much they have gone through together. He may not love himself yet, but he knows for sure that he loves his family.

"Im fine, honestly, just go back to sleep. You have another long day ahead of you tomorrow, Mr. Hokage," Yamato chuckles, finding himself with raised spirits after a bit of internal resonance. Kakashi shrugs, nestling his face into Yamato's broad shoulder and closing his eyes. Gai sighs contently behind him, snuggling even closer and murmuring something about training.

 

 Yamato never really was a fan of confined spaces, but between Gai and Kakashi, he felt at peace.

 


End file.
